End Cluster Munition Attacks in Ukraine: Daily Brief

A new report published today by Human Rights Watch documents how Russian armed forces have used at least six types of cluster munitions during the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian forces also appear to have used them at least once. Cluster munitions spread multiple explosive submunitions or bomblets over a wide area and leave dangerous duds that can kill and maim, like landmines, for years or even decades. Both countries should immediately end their use of cluster munitions and join the international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions. HRW will present the report “Intense and Lasting Harm” next week during a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which opens at the United Nations in Geneva on Monday.

Did you know that the British government is planning to rip up the Human Rights Act 1998 and further clamp down on the right to protest? Alongside stripping away rights protections domestically, the proposed reforms will hamper the United Kingdom’s ability to effectively advocate for human rights overseas. With authoritarianism on the rise and as the international community is trying to stand up to abuses committed at the hands of autocrats, the UK is sending the message that international standards can be set aside.

Lawmakers and other public officials in Brazil have used pernicious legal and political tactics to undermine and even prohibit gender and sexuality education, says HRW in a new report published today. The 77-page report, “‘I Became Scared, This Was Their Goal’: Efforts to Ban Gender and Sexuality Education in Brazil,” analyzes 217 bills and laws presented between 2014 and 2022 designed to explicitly forbid the teaching or sharing of gender and sexuality education, or ban so-called “gender ideology” or “indoctrination” in municipal and state schools. HRW also documented a political effort to discredit and restrict gender and sexuality education, bolstered by the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has personally amplified this message for political effect, including as recently as March. “These hostile attempts to suppress comprehensive approaches to sexuality education are grounded in prejudice and undermine the rights to education and to nondiscrimination in Brazil,” says HRW's Cristian González Cabrera. “Lawmakers should revoke laws and withdraw bills that violate children’s rights and instead ensure they all benefit from comprehensive sexuality education, in accordance with Brazilian and international law.”

Human Rights Watch has spoken with five Rohingya refugees who described being beaten by the police in Bangladesh at camp checkpoints over the past few days. Authorities have also introduced a draconian “movement permission” form, a reminder of restrictions in Myanmar. The harassment is seemingly part of authorities’ efforts to coerce refugees to relocate to the remote island of Bhasan Char or to return to Myanmar. Donors funding the refugee response, including the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, should urge Bangladesh to reverse these harsh restrictions before the refugees’ lives closely mirror the constraints and harassment they fled.

And the United States-ASEAN Special Summit that begins today in Washington should feature a robust discussion about human rights, democracy, and rule of law, both in Asia and in the United States. It should also include clear acknowledgment about the bloc’s failure to achieve progress in addressing the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. We published a letter on-topic to US President Joe Biden: "We know your administration is concerned about China’s growing economic and security influence in Southeast Asia. We also understand that your administration is seeking to strengthen US engagement with ASEAN, shore up alliances with its members, and help ASEAN build a more functional problem-solving regional architecture. But if your administration holds this summit and does not publicly raise human rights concerns with ASEAN members, it will send a message that human rights violations will now largely be tolerated in the name of forging alliances to counter China."